Tucked away between mountains and sea in Italy’s extreme northeast corner, Friuli-Venezia Giulia is a veritable melting pot of cultures. Today, the only clear boundary lines are political: those that separate Italy from the neighboring countries of Austria and Slovenia, those that mark the border between Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Italy’s Veneto region, and those that delineate Friuli’s four provinces, Trieste, Udine, Gorizia, and Pordenone. From a cultural point of view, these borders remain somewhat blurred, as there is considerable overlap in ethnicity, traditions, and cuisine. There are, however, three distinct geographical areas within Friuli-Venezia Giulia—the Northern mountains, the Central hills and plains, and the Southern coastline—whose individual characteristics have played a significant role in the region’s culinary history.